KR20110078379A - Method for controlling dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A control method of a drier is provided to generate steam of high quality and to increase the energy efficiency in a short time. CONSTITUTION: Dried laundry puts into within a drum of a drier(S10). Hot air is heated by a heater assembly within the drum in order to dry the laundry(S20). The heater assembly is intermittently operated(S31). While the heater assembly is operated, water is intermittently provided to a steam generator(S32). Water is heated by the steam generator by using the heat(S33).

Description

Dryer control method {METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DRYER}

The present invention relates to a method of controlling a dryer, and more particularly, to a method of controlling a steam generator for generating steam supplied into a drum of a dryer.

In general, a dryer is an apparatus for drying laundry by putting laundry in a state where washing is completed and dehydration is completed into the drum of the dryer, and supplying hot air into the drum to evaporate moisture of the laundry.

In the construction of the dryer, the dryer includes a drum inside the dryer into which laundry is put, a driving motor for driving the drum, a blowing fan for blowing air into the drum, and a heating means for heating the air introduced into the drum. Is done. The heating means may be a resistance heater that generates heat using electrical resistance or a burner that generates heat by burning gas.

The air exiting the drum of the dryer has moisture in the laundry inside the drum, and the air becomes hot and humid. At this time, the dryer can be classified according to the method of treating the high temperature and high humidity air, and the hot and humid air is circulated without being discharged to the outside of the dryer to allow heat exchange with the outside air in the condenser so that the moisture contained in the high temperature and high humidity air. It is divided into a condensation type dryer for condensing and an exhaust type dryer for directly discharging the air of a high temperature and high humidity passing through the drum to the outside.

By the way, the laundry is completed and a lot of wrinkles are present in the laundry put into the dryer, these wrinkles are not removed even in the drying process, there is an inconvenience that you need to iron again after drying in the dryer. In addition, there are problems such as wrinkles and odors or germs propagation during storage of clothes in the intestinal tract as well as the wrinkles after washing. In order to solve this problem, a steam generator is installed in the clothes dryer to spray steam on the clothes being dried inside the drum to remove wrinkles and odors and to sterilize them.

In general, a steam generator mounted on a dryer has its own heater therein, separate from a heater that produces hot air supplied to the drum. More specifically, the steam generator has a container for receiving a predetermined amount of water, and a heater provided in the container for heating the received water. The water in the steam generator is heated and steamed by the heating of the heater, and the generated steam is supplied into the drum. The steam generator also has a reservoir for temporarily storing water to be supplied to the container.

The steam generator of the conventional dryer should directly heat the supplied water by using a heater provided separately to make steam. However, due to steam generation, if the amount of water stored inside the steam generator is reduced and the heater is exposed to the outside of the water, the heater may be overheated. Therefore, for safety reasons, the heater should always be submerged in water. That is, the water stored in the container of the steam generator should always maintain a minimum level to submerge the heater. For this reason, the steam generator has a water level sensor which detects that the stored water is reduced and the water level is lowered to reach the minimum level, and when the minimum level is reached, water is automatically supplied to the container of the steam generator from the reservoir.

Therefore, since the conventional steam generator has to be equipped with a separate member, such as a water level sensor for detecting the water level, the structure and manufacturing process is complicated. In addition, since the heater for steam generation is installed separately in the heater for hot air generation, the structure and manufacturing process is similarly complicated, and more energy is required for the operation of the dryer.

Furthermore, in the conventional steam generator, in order to generate steam, the entire water contained in the container must be boiled by using a separate heater. Therefore, it takes a long time to generate steam, and wastes energy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a dryer having a simple structure and having a steam generator which enables easy manufacture.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dryer having high energy efficiency.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a dryer which can generate a large amount and high quality steam in a short time.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a dryer that increases the energy efficiency of the dryer.

In order to solve the above object, the present invention comprises the steps of putting the laundry to be dried in the drum of the dryer; Supplying hot air heated by a heater assembly in the drum to dry the laundry; And supplying steam generated by a steam generator disposed around the heater assembly to the drum, wherein the steam supplying step includes intermittently supplying water to the steam generator while the heater assembly is operated; And heating the water supplied by the steam generator by using the heat generated by the heater assembly.

The steam supplying step may further include intermittently operating the heater assembly before the intermittent supplying step.

The intermittent supply step may include intermittently driving a pump connected to a reservoir for storing a predetermined amount of water or intermittently opening a valve connected to the reservoir for storing a predetermined amount of water.

The intermittent supplying step may include supplying water to the steam generator for a predetermined time and stopping supply of water for a predetermined time after the supplying step, and the supplying step and the stopping step may be alternately repeated. It can be performed as.

The period of the stopping step may be set to nine times the period of the supplying step, and in practice, the supplying step may be performed for 0.1 second, and the stopping step may be performed for 0.9 second. In addition, the intermittent supplying step is performed between the heater assembly temperature 62 ℃ and 66 ℃.

In the present invention, since the steam generator can generate steam without a separate heater for steam generation, the structure is simplified and manufacturing is easy due to the reduction of the components required for the manufacturing process. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the steam generator of the present invention is reduced, and the productivity is increased. In addition, the energy required is reduced because steam is generated by using the heat of the heater assembly inside the dryer.

In addition, the control method according to the invention converts all of the instantaneously supplied water into steam by intermittent supply. In addition, the control method according to the present invention uses a heater assembly for hot air generation without a separate heater for steam generation, and operates such a heater assembly intermittently. Therefore, by the control method of the present invention, high quality steam can be sufficiently supplied to the drum in a short time, and the energy required for steam generation can be reduced.

An example of a dryer according to the present invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view showing a dryer having a steam generator according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the steam generator. 3 is a partial perspective view showing in more detail the steam generator according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, the clothes dryer 100 according to the present invention includes a main cover including a front cover 101, a side cover 102, a rear cover (not shown), and a top plate (not shown) forming an external appearance. It has a drum 120 installed in the main body. The drum 120 is rotatably installed in the main body and accommodates laundry to be dried. In addition, the clothes dryer 100 is mounted on the front of the front cover 101, the door 104 for opening and closing the opening of the drum 120, and is provided on the upper side of the front cover 101, drying The control panel 103 is provided with various buttons for inputting a condition. The drum 120 has a hollow cylinder shape with open front and rear ends. That is, openings are formed in front and rear portions of the drum 120, respectively. The drum 120 is supported by a front supporter (not shown) installed in the front part of the main body and a rear supporter 122 (see FIG. 2) installed in the rear part of the main body. More specifically, the front supporter is formed with an opening in communication with the opening of the front end of the drum 120, the rim is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the opening. The inner circumferential surface of the rim of the front supporter rotatably supports the outer circumferential surface of the front end portion of the drum 120. The opening of the front end of the drum 120 communicates with the outside of the main body through the opening of the front supporter, and is opened and closed by the door 104. The user may open the door 104 and put laundry into the drum 120 through openings in the front supporter and the front end of the drum 120. In addition, the rear supporter 122 includes a recess, and the inner circumferential surface of the recess rotatably supports the outer circumferential surface of the rear end of the drum 120. Thus, the front supporter and the rear supporter 122 are stationary, while the drum 120 is relatively rotatably supported by these stationary supporters.

In addition, although the internal structure of the dryer is not shown in detail in the drawing, the clothes dryer has a blower fan for circulating the air inside the drum 120, and a lower part of the dryer exchanges heat with air circulating in the dryer. It is provided with a heat exchanger to condense the moisture contained in the circulating air. The air discharged from the drum 120 is introduced into the drum 120 again by the blowing fan. At this time, a duct is provided to guide the air circulating so that the air discharged from the drum flows back into the drum. As described above, since the front supporter and the rear supporter 122 are fixed, the suction part and the discharge part of the duct cannot be connected to the rotating drum 120, and thus, the fixed front supporter and the rear supporter 122 are fixed. ) May be connected to communicate with the inside of the drum (120). In addition, a heater assembly 200 for heating the air introduced into the drum 120 to make hot air is provided in the duct. The duct may include an intermediate duct 140 and a rear duct 130, as shown in FIG. The intermediate duct 140 may be provided with various accessories such as a heat exchanger and a blower fan as well as the heater assembly 200. FIG. 2 shows only a part of the intermediate duct 140 which receives only the heater assembly 200, and similarly to the heater assembly 200, a heat exchanger and a blowing fan may also be installed in the intermediate duct 140. The rear duct 130 is connected to the intermediate duct 140 and is connected to the rear supporter 122 so as to communicate with the drum 120 again. More specifically, the rear supporter 122 has an opening 123 in communication with the rear end of the open drum 120, the end of the rear duct 130 is connected to the opening 123. Therefore, the rear duct 130 is supplied by the heat exchanger in the intermediate duct 140 and the air heated by the heater assembly 200 again into the drum 120 through the opening 123. In addition, the front duct is connected to the front of the intermediate duct 140, although not shown, and sucks air in the drum 120 having a relatively high humidity and a low temperature by drying the laundry. The heater assembly 200 may be formed of a resistance coil heater using electric resistance heat, or may be formed of a burner that generates heat by burning gas. Hereinafter, a case of using a resistance coil heater will be described as an example, but it is obvious that an embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a burner. In addition, although the above-described duct structure and the arrangement of the heat exchanger and heater assembly have been described based on the condensation type dryer, the dry cleaner of the present invention may have the arrangement of the duct structure and thus related parts according to the exhaust type dryer. In practice, the condensation dryer and the exhaust dryer are distinguished from each other only in the manner of circulating the air, so it is understood that the steam generator and related configurations described below can be applied to the exhaust dryer without further modification.

In FIG. 2, the steam generator according to the first embodiment of the present invention is simplified and simplified together with other related components. In this regard, a drawer 110 is provided to be pulled out from the front cover 101 of the dryer body, and the drawer 110 is detachably provided with a cartridge 113 corresponding to a reservoir for storing water. Is mounted. The drawer 110 is installed above the front cover 101 of the dryer, and is installed to be pulled out toward the front of the main body. Preferably, the drawer 110 is installed on the side of the control panel 103 at the top of the front cover. The cartridge 113 is provided with a handle 114, and by using the handle 114, the user can easily detach or mount the cartridge 113 from the drawn drawer 110. In addition, a heater assembly 200 for heating the air flowing into the drum is provided in the intermediate duct 140 located below the clothes dryer. In addition, a steam generator 230 is provided inside the intermediate duct 140 adjacent to the heater assembly 200, and receives heat from the heater assembly to convert water into steam. The cartridge 113 and the steam generator 230 are connected to each other by a water supply hose 116, and the pump 115 is provided at the water supply hose 116. The water stored in the cartridge 113 is supplied to the steam generator 250 through the water supply hose 116 to be converted into steam, and the pump 115 opens and closes the water supply hose 116 in the cartridge. Adjust the amount of water supplied to the steam generator. That is, when the pump 115 opens the water supply hose 116 and supplies water to the steam generator 230 at the point where steam generation is required, the supplied water is changed to steam in the steam generator.

In the present embodiment, an example in which a pump is used to adjust the amount of water supplied to the steam generator 230 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the water supply hose 116 is provided with a valve to open and close the hose. The amount of water supplied to the steam generator may be controlled. And, as shown in Figure 2, in the present embodiment, the cartridge is provided on the upper left side as seen from the front of the dryer, the steam generator is provided on the lower right, by using the height difference between the cartridge and the steam generator, The water to be supplied can also be controlled by a valve.

In FIG. 3, the steam generator 230 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is shown in more detail with the heater assembly 200. First, the heater assembly 200 basically includes a heating unit, and the heating unit includes a support 201 and a resistance coil 202 wound around the support 201. The support 201 is made of an insulating material against electricity and heat, and the resistance coil 202 generates heat using electrical resistance. Such a plurality of heating units are gathered to form one heater assembly 200. The heater assembly 200 may further have a support plate 203 to which the heating units are fitted, as shown in FIG. 5, and the heating units may be more stably fixed in the duct by the support plate 203. . And, the inside of the duct 140 is provided with a steam generator 230 for receiving the heat of the heater assembly 200 to change the water into steam. The steam generator 230 is a long metal tube having a predetermined diameter and is located on one side of the heater assembly 200. In the present embodiment, the steam generator 230 is disposed in a zigzag form on the upper side of the heater assembly 200. However, the shape in which the steam generator is disposed is not limited thereto, and may be disposed in a zigzag shape on the upper side and both side surfaces of the heater assembly 200. In addition, it is advantageous in terms of heat transfer that the steam generator made of the metal tube is made of a copper tube.

 In addition, both ends of the steam generator 230 are provided with an inlet 231 and an outlet 232 protruding to the outside of the duct. The inlet 231 is a passage through which water is introduced into the steam generator from the cartridge 113, and the outlet 232 is a passage through which steam generated by the steam generator is discharged. A water supply hose 116 is connected to the inlet, and water stored in the cartridge 113 flows into the steam generator, and a steam hose 117 is connected to the outlet 232 to discharge steam generated from the steam generator. It goes out. The steam hose 117 is preferably made of a metal pipe, considering the temperature of the steam flowing therein. The steam generator 230 receives heat generated by the heater assembly indirectly by convection through air or directly through radiation to convert water stored therein into steam. As mentioned above, the steam generator 230 is a small diameter metal tube, so the amount of water flowing is small. In addition, since the steam generator 230 is arranged in a zigzag, it has a considerably large heat transfer area. Thus, a small amount of water flowing in the steam generator 230 can be quickly heated and converted to steam. Steam generators are preferably made of copper tubes or aluminum tubes to increase the heat transfer rate.

A nozzle 118 is provided at the end of the steam hose 117 to inject steam to the drum 120. As shown in FIG. 2, the nozzle 118 may be installed at a rear supporter 122 supporting the drum 120 at a rear end thereof. And, the steam flowing inside the steam hose 117 may be condensed on the inner wall of the steam hose 117 when the temperature is lowered. In order to prevent this, as shown in FIG. 2, the steam hose 117 may be installed near the outer wall of the rear duct 130, which is a passage through which hot air heated by a heater flows into the drum. Preferably, the steam hose 117 is preferably attached to the rear duct 130 to receive high temperature heat from the rear duct 130. In addition, in order to prevent internal condensation by receiving heat from the rear duct, the steam hose is preferably made of a metal pipe having a good heat transfer rate. In addition, the nozzle 118 provided at the end of the steam hose 117 is installed in the rear supporter 122 supporting the rear of the dryer drum 120, through the open rear end of the drum 120 in the nozzle Steam is injected into the drum.

4 shows another embodiment in which the nozzle 118 is installed. In FIG. 4, the steam hose 117 is installed in close contact with the rear duct 130 to prevent condensation of steam passing through the steam hose 117. In addition, the nozzle 118 is installed above the rear duct 130, and the nozzle is installed near the inlet, ie, the opening 123, through which hot air flows into the drum. With this configuration, the steam hose 117 and the nozzle 118 can continue to receive heat from the rear duct 130, thus preventing the steam inside the steam hose is condensed in the flow of the flow Can be.

5 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the steam generator, Figure 6 is a partial perspective view showing in more detail the steam generator according to the second embodiment. A second embodiment of the steam generator will be described in detail with reference to these drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, in the intermediate duct 140, air is first introduced to the front of the heater assembly 200, and the air of the heater assembly 200 is passed through the heater assembly 200. It is heated sequentially by the heating units. Thereafter, the heated air is discharged from the rear of the heater assembly 200. In consideration of this heating process, the air introduced in the unheated state absorbs a lot of heat from the front portion thereof compared with the rear portion of the heater assembly 200. Thus, the rear portion of the heater assembly 200 relatively retains more heat that can be used for heating. On the other hand, since the heating of the air at the rear part of the heater assembly 200 is actually completed, the air at the rear part has a significantly higher temperature than the air at the front part. Thus, the air at the rear has more thermal energy to heat other objects than the air at the front. For this reason, the rear part of the heater assembly 200, that is, the air outlet part, has a high ability and heater assembly to indirectly supply heat energy to the steam generators 220 and 230 by convection using air having a high temperature around it. Both have a high ability to supply thermal energy directly by thermal energy radiation from 200. Accordingly, the steam generator 330 according to the second embodiment is configured to be disposed only around the rear portion of the heater assembly 200, that is, around the air discharge portion. The steam generator 330 according to the second embodiment may generate steam efficiently and efficiently by using the high heating capacity of the rear part (discharge part) of the heater assembly. In addition, compared to the steam generator 220 of the first embodiment extending throughout the heater assembly 200, the steam generator 330 has a simpler and easier to manufacture structure, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost Productivity can be increased.

In addition, the steam generator 330 may be configured to surround the heater assembly 200 to have a higher heating efficiency. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the steam generator 330 basically includes a first generator 331 disposed above the rear portion (ie, the discharge portion) of the heater assembly 200. Have That is, the first generator 331 is disposed spaced apart from the upper surface of the rear portion (discharge portion) by a predetermined interval. In addition, the steam generator 330 may have a second generator 332 disposed below the rear portion (discharge portion) of the heater assembly 200. In other words, the second generator 332 is disposed spaced apart from the lower surface of the rear part (discharge part) at a predetermined interval. The first and second generators 331 and 332 can greatly increase the heating efficiency by using both the upper and lower rear portions of the heater assembly having the largest heating capability. Furthermore, the steam generator 330 may have a third generator 333 which connects the first generator and the second generators 331 and 332 and is disposed adjacent to the side of the rear part of the heater assembly 200. . The third generator 333 may be disposed adjacent to the left side or the right side of the rear portion of the heater assembly 200. However, as shown in the drawing, the third generator 333 is disposed adjacent to the rear side (that is, the rear end) of the heater assembly where the highest temperature air is directly discharged, that is, to increase the heating efficiency. More advantageous. The steam generator 330, that is, the first to third generators 331, 332, 333, is made of a metal tube bent in a zigzag parallel to the surface of the heater assembly 200 facing in the same manner as in the first embodiment described above. Accordingly, when water is supplied through the inlet 335, the water is immediately converted into steam while passing through the first to third generators 331-333 and discharged through the outlet 336.

In view of the above description, the first and third generators 331, 332, and 333 surround the portion having the highest heating capacity of the heater assembly 200 while increasing the heat transfer area. For this reason, the heating efficiency in the stem generator 330 according to the second embodiment is maximized.

Like the steam generator 220 of the first embodiment, the outlet 336 protrudes out of the duct, and the steam hose 117 together with the nozzle 118 may be connected to the outlet 336. The steam may be supplied into the drum 120 through the steam hose 117 and the nozzle 118. However, as described above, since the steam hose 117 is exposed to the outside of the duct, steam is condensed by the temperature decrease, and thus the quantity and quality of the steam may be reduced. Thus, as shown in FIG. 5, the steam generator 220 according to the second embodiment may further include an auxiliary generator 334. The auxiliary generator 334 is connected to the steam generator 320, precisely the outlet 336, is disposed in the duct, that is, the rear duct 130. More specifically, the auxiliary generator 334 extends away from the heater assembly 200 along the flow direction of the heated air discharged from the heater assembly 200. That is, the auxiliary generator 334 further extends along the rear duct 130 from the steam generator 330, and also toward the drum 210, an outlet of the duct that is in communication with the drum 210. Extending continuously. The auxiliary generator 334 may be made of a metal tube like the first to third generators, and may extend in a straight line in the drawing, but may be bent in a zigzag to increase the heat transfer area. Steam discharged from the steam generator 330 is reheated by the hot air flowing in the duct while passing through the auxiliary generator 334, and does not condense. Therefore, the amount and quality of steam actually supplied to the drum 120 by this auxiliary generator 334 can be greatly increased.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 5, the end of the auxiliary generator 334 may extend through the rear duct 130 to the outside, the outlet 337 for discharging steam may be formed in the end have. In this case, like the steam generator 220 of the first embodiment, the steam hose 117 may be connected, and the nozzle 118 is provided at the end of the steam hose 117. The nozzle 118 is installed in the rear supporter 122 rotatably supporting the rear end of the drum 120 as shown in FIG. 2 or the rear duct adjacent to the opening 123 of the rear supporter. More preferably, 130 may be installed at a portion communicating with the drum of the rear duct 130. On the other hand, unlike shown in Figure 5, the end of the auxiliary generator 334 does not protrude out of the duct, the outlet of the duct that the auxiliary generator 334 itself is in communication with the drum along the rear duct 130 That is, it may extend to the opening 123. In this case, a nozzle 118 may be mounted at the end of the auxiliary generator 334 to inject steam from the discharge port into the drum.

In addition, similar to the steam generator 220 of the first embodiment, the inlet 335 is the water supply hose so that the water flows into the steam generator from the cartridge 113 detachably installed in the drawer (110) 116). In addition, the steam generator 330 may likewise be made of an aluminum tube or a copper tube.

Hereinafter, a control method of the dryer having the above-described steam generator will be described. The dryer control method is described below with reference to the condensation type dryer, but may be applied directly to the exhaust type dryer without further modification.

7 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of a dryer according to the present invention, Figure 8 is a graph illustrating the water supply to the steam generator in the steam supply step of the control method according to the present invention.

Prior to performing the drying of the laundry, the laundry is first put into the dryer (S10). In the input step (S10), the user first opens the door 104 of the dryer, and then the drum (through the openings of the front cover 101, the front supporter (not shown) and the front end of the drum 120 to communicate with each other) 120) Put the laundry to be dried inside.

After the laundry is put into the drum 120, the user instructs the dryer of a desired drying course using the control panel 103. In the instruction, the user will generally select and direct a drying course that includes a steam supply to dry the laundry better, but if necessary, in particular without the steam supply to shorten the time required to dry the laundry. It is also possible to select and direct the drying course. When the drying course selected by this instruction starts, hot air is supplied to the inside of the drum 120 (S20). In the supplying step S20, the air inside the drum 120 is sucked into the duct by the blowing fan, and is heated by the heater assembly 200 disposed in the duct. Thereafter, the generated hot air is guided by a duct and supplied to the drum 120 to dry the laundry. When a heat exchanger is installed in the duct, prior to heating of the air, the heat exchanger removes moisture from the air sucked into the duct by heat exchange to make the dry air more suitable for laundry drying. In addition, the drum 120 is rotated along with the supply of hot air. The laundry is mixed by the rotation of the drum 120 and is evenly exposed to the supplied hot air, so that it can be dried better.

Through the supply of hot air (S20), the laundry may be dried, but there are still many wrinkles in the dried laundry. Therefore, after completion of the supply step (S20), a predetermined amount of steam is supplied to the drum (120) (S30).

In the steam supply step (S30), water may be continuously supplied to the steam generators 230 and 330 to generate steam. Preferably, in the control method of the present invention, water is intermittently supplied to the steam generators 230 and 330. It is supplied (S32). This intermittent supply step S32 is shown in more detail in FIG. 8. In the graph of FIG. 8, the change of the heater assembly power supply with respect to time is indicated by a solid line, and the change of the voltage of the thermistor installed in the heater assembly with respect to time is indicated by a dotted line. Since the thermistor represents a change in temperature as a change in voltage value, substantially the change in the thermistor voltage in FIG. 8 represents a change in temperature of the heater assembly 200. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 8, while the heater assembly 200 is operated (ie, while power is supplied to the heater assembly 200), the temperature of the heater assembly 200 (ie, the power of the output thermistor) Value) is increased.

As described above with reference to the steam generators 230 and 330, when the pump 115 is operated, water is supplied to the steam generators 230 and 330 from the reservoir tank 113 through the water supply hose 116. The supplied water is converted into steam while passing through the zigzag bent metal tube of the steam generator (230,330). However, if water is continuously supplied to the steam generators 230 and 330, all of the supplied water may not be converted into steam. That is, some of the supplied water is discharged as it is from the steam generators 230 and 330. The discharged water may condense a portion of the steam discharged together to reduce the amount and quality of steam supplied into the drum 120. In addition, the discharged water may block the supply pipe to hinder the supply of steam, and may also wet dry laundry by being supplied directly into the drum 120. Therefore, it is preferable to supply water to the steam generators 230 and 330 intermittently according to the intermittent supply step S32 to supply only an appropriate amount of water to the steam generators 230 and 330.

In the graph of FIG. 8, the period of the intermittent water supply step S32 is represented by a plurality of horizontal bars, and the operating waveform of the pump 115 in one of the water supply periods is shown below in FIG. 8. That is, when the value of the operating waveform is "1", it means that the pump 115 is operated. When the value is "0", it means that the pump 115 is stopped. As shown in the operating waveform, the intermittent water supply step S32 consists essentially of operating the pump 115 intermittently. In addition, as described above, a valve may be applied in place of the pump 115, in which case, the valve is intermittently opened in the intermittent water supply step (S32).

Referring to the operation waveform of FIG. 8, in more detail, the intermittent supplying step S32 may include supplying water to the steam generators 230 and 330 for a predetermined time (A) and after the supplying step (A). Stopping the supply of water for a predetermined period (B). In addition, the supply step (A) and the stop step (B) are repeatedly performed alternately, as shown in the operating waveform. As described above, the period of the supplying step (A) is set shorter than the period of the stopping step (B) in order to supply only a suitable amount of water so that both of the steam generators 230 and 330 are changed to steam. Preferably, the period of the stopping step (B) is set to nine times the period of the feeding step (A). In other words, the period of the supply phase (A) corresponds to 1/9 of the period of the suspension phase (B). In practice, the feeding step A is carried out for 0.1 second, and the stopping step B is carried out for 0.9 second.

On the other hand, in order to switch the steam of all the small amount of water supplied by the intermittent supply step (S32) it must be supplied with sufficient heat from the heater assembly 200. Therefore, the intermittent supply step (S32) is preferably performed during the operation of the heater assembly 200. In the graph of FIG. 8, the intermittent supply step S32 indicated by the horizontal bar is performed only while the power is supplied to the heater assembly 200. In practice, the intermittent supply step S32 may be performed between 62 ° C. and 66 ° C. of the heater assembly 200 while the heater assembly 200 is operated to receive sufficient heat. In addition, referring to the graph of FIG. 8, as shown in the voltage change of the thermistor in the interval from 0 minute to about 3 minutes, a predetermined time (about 1 minute) after the heater assembly 200 first starts to operate. Only after this elapses does the actual temperature of the heater assembly 200 (ie, the voltage value of the thermistor) begin to rise. In addition, only after a predetermined time has elapsed even after the temperature of the heater assembly 200 starts to rise, an appropriate temperature for heating the supplied water is reached. Therefore, if water is supplied immediately after the heater assembly 200 starts to operate for the first time, the water is difficult to be converted into steam in the heater assemblies 230 and 330, and thus water may be discharged as it is. For this reason, the first intermittent supply step S32 is preferably started when a predetermined time has elapsed since the heater assembly first started to operate, as indicated by the point " C " in FIG. In practice, the first intermittent supply step S32 may begin at a heater assembly temperature of 53 ° C. when about two minutes have elapsed since the heater assembly 200 was first operated. That is, the point "C" at the start of the first intermittent supply step S32 corresponds to about 2 minutes after the heater assembly 200 is operated for the first time and the heater assembly temperature of 53 ° C.

On the other hand, since the steam supply step (S30) is not intended to supply hot air, the heater assembly 200 is only required to maintain a proper temperature suitable for steam generation. If the heater assembly 200 is continuously operated at a high temperature, it results in unnecessary power consumption. Therefore, the heater assembly 200 may be preferably operated intermittently (S31). That is, in the intermittent operation step (S31), the heater assembly 200 is operated for a predetermined time and then stopped for a predetermined time, the operation and the stop process is repeated alternately. This intermittent operation step S31 is clearly shown from the power supply change of the heater assembly over time in the graph of FIG. 8. Therefore, when the intermittent heater assembly operation step S31 is applied, the heater assembly 200 is intermittently operated in this operation step S31 and the subsequent intermittent water supply step S32, and water is It is intermittently supplied to the steam generators 230 and 330 only while the heater assembly 200 is operated. In the graph of FIG. 8, the intermittent supply step S32 indicated by the horizontal bar is performed only while power is supplied to the heater assembly 200 in the intermittent operation of the heater assembly 200. Therefore, according to the combination of the intermittent operation and the supply (S31, S32), it is possible to generate a sufficient amount of steam while minimizing waste of energy.

After completion of the intermittent supply step S32, the steam generators 220 and 230 heat the supplied water (S33). In the heating step (S33), as described above, the supplied water is bent zigzag to continuously flow in the steam generator (230,330) made of a metal tube having a large heat transfer area. During this flow, the water supplied is directly heated by thermal energy radiation from the heater assembly 200. At the same time, the water supplied is indirectly heated by convection using air having a high temperature around the heater assembly 200. The water supplied is converted into steam by the heating step S33. In particular, only a small amount of water is supplied according to the intermittent supplying step S32 described above, and the supplied water is heated to a high temperature at a time by using all of its large heat transfer areas in the steam generators 230 and 330 which are bent metal tubes. For this reason, the supplied small amounts of water are all converted to steam instantaneously. Accordingly, the steam generators 230 and 330 can generate a high quality and a large amount of steam in a short time without discharging water. In addition, since the heat of the heater assembly 200 is basically used, and the heater assembly 200 is intermittently operated to maintain only an appropriate heating temperature, steam can be generated using only a small amount of energy.

The steam generated by the heating step S33 is supplied into the drum 120 through various methods as described above in the first and second embodiments of the steam generators 230 and 330 of FIGS. 2-6 (S30). ). Including each of the steps S31-S33, the supplying step S30 may be substantially performed for 30 minutes to supply sufficient steam to the drum 120. In addition, the drum 120 may be rotated together with the supply of the steam. The laundry may be mixed by the rotation of the drum 120 and may be evenly exposed to the supplied steam. By the steam supplied in the supply step (S30), the wrinkles of the laundry dried basically is removed, the static electricity is also removed. In addition, since the temperature of the steam is high, the smell of laundry dried by the provided steam may be removed and sterilized. Thus, the dried laundry can be refreshed in a state suitable for the user to wear immediately.

On the other hand, the laundry may be slightly wet even by the supply of the steam. Therefore, in order to dry the laundry, after the steam supply step (S30), secondary hot air may be supplied to the drum (120) (S40). Dryer operation in the secondary supply step (S40) is substantially the same as the above-described primary supply step (S20) and further description is omitted. However, the secondary supply step (S40) is to remove only a very small amount of water by the steam supply, it is performed only for a short time, it can be omitted if necessary.

After completion of the secondary supply step (S40), the drum 120 is cooled inside (S50). The drum 120 itself and the inner space are heated to a high temperature together with the laundry by the feeding steps S20, S30, and S40 previously performed. Therefore, while taking out the dry laundry, the user may be burned by hot laundry or drum 120 or the like. For this reason, in the cooling step S50, only the blower fan is operated, and thus, the air of relatively low temperature is continuously supplied into the drum 120. In addition, the drum 120 may be rotated during the cooling step S50 to increase the cooling efficiency. Therefore, the drum 120 and the laundry are cooled to an appropriate temperature, and after a predetermined time, the cooling step (S50) ends, so that the entire drying course is finished. Thus, the user can take out the laundry dried from the dryer without the risk of mars, and can immediately wear the laundry washed without wrinkles as needed. In addition, after the dryer performs a plurality of drying courses, when the water stored in the cartridge 113 is consumed, the user pulls the drawer 110 for the next drying course and then draws water to the cartridge 113. You can pour and replenish.

The embodiments of the steam generators 230 and 330 according to the present invention described above do not require a separate heater for steam generation by generating steam using the heat of the heater assembly 200 as described above. In addition, for the same reason, the steam generators 230 and 330 according to the above-described embodiments have a relatively simple structure and can be easily manufactured as compared to the conventional steam generator. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the steam generator of the present invention is reduced, and the productivity is increased. In addition, the use of energy for steam generation is reduced.

In addition, since only an appropriate amount of water is supplied to the steam generators 230 and 330 by the intermittent supply in the control method according to the present invention, all of the instantaneously supplied water may be converted into steam. In addition, the control method uses a heater assembly 200 for hot air generation without a separate heater for steam generation, and furthermore, to operate such a heater assembly 200 intermittently to maintain only the temperature suitable for steam. Therefore, by the control method, high quality steam can be supplied to the drum 120 in a short time, and the energy required for steam generation can be reduced.

1 is a perspective view showing a dryer having a steam generator according to the present invention;

2 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a steam generator;

3 is a partial perspective view showing in more detail the steam generator according to the first embodiment;

4 is a partial perspective view showing a modification of the steam generator according to the first embodiment;

5 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the steam generator;

6 is a partial perspective view showing in more detail the steam generator according to the second embodiment;

7 is a flowchart showing a control method of a dryer according to the present invention; And

8 is a graph illustrating the water supply to the steam generator in the steam supply step of the control method according to the present invention.

Claims (8)

Putting laundry to be dried into a drum of a dryer; Supplying hot air heated by a heater assembly in the drum to dry the laundry; And Supplying the steam generated by the steam generator disposed around the heater assembly to the drum, wherein the steam supply step: Intermittently supplying water to the steam generator while the heater assembly is operating; And And heating the water supplied by the steam generator by using the heat generated by the heater assembly. The method of claim 1, The steam supplying step further comprises the step of operating the heater assembly intermittently before the intermittent supplying step. The method of claim 1, The intermittent supplying step is a control method of a dryer, characterized in that for driving the pump connected to the reservoir for storing a predetermined amount of water intermittently. The method of claim 1, And said intermittent supplying step comprises intermittently opening a valve connected to a reservoir for storing a predetermined amount of water. The method of claim 1, The intermittent supplying step includes supplying water to the steam generator for a predetermined time and stopping supply of water for a predetermined time after the supplying step, and the supplying step and the stopping step are repeatedly performed alternately. Dryer control method characterized in that the. The method of claim 5, The period of the stopping step is 9 times the period of the supply step control method of the dryer. The method of claim 5, The supplying step is performed for 0.1 seconds, the stopping step is a control method of the dryer, characterized in that performed for 0.9 seconds. The method of claim 1, The intermittent supplying step is a control method of the dryer, characterized in that operated between the heater assembly temperature 62 ℃ and 66 ℃.

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